Paper vessel B

Cecilia Vitas

Pages from Encyclopedia Hebraica, metal frame Computerized 3D modeling, Cutting layers in laser, manual layering and assembly A group of 7 artifacts, which look like restored ancient pottery, are, in fact, made of tens of thousands of pages that were cut out of the volumes of Encyclopedia Hebraica, an expired cultural institution. Densely layered pages encode within themselves valuable, historical, and cultural knowledge. The designer chose to carve the raw material for her vessels from the world of knowledge. Thus, the artifacts preserve knowledge, and contain within themselves a visual treasure. Its discovery within the pottery reconstructs the surprise and excitement of leafing through the encyclopedia. The scale of the pottery is derived from the measurements of the book. We can feel its pages by looking at the surface. The vessels were digitally designed and cut with a contemporary technology of laser, however layering the papers and binding them into an object reintroduced manual labor into the process.

Cecilia Vitas

Cecilia Vitas Volcoff Kasher was born in the US, raised in Argentina and Israel and gained her professional education in California. With a strong multidisciplinary background in environmental and industrial design, her practice tends to blur the edges from seriousness to playfulness, craft to advanced technology and from unique objects to mini architecture.